Beautifully Broken
by PhoenixRoseQueenToo
Summary: Going through edits. Should be back to posting by 1213. (It's been complete for five years now)
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters that you recognize

**Disclaimer:** I_ do not own any of the Harry Potter characters that you recognize. I only own Aira, the plot, and any other original idea that you may read or see_.

**Beautifully Broken—Chapter One—Broken Pieces**

Aira sat curled in the corner of the room, crying. She had never felt worse in her entire life. How could everything have gone so bad, so quickly? How could he do that to her, someone she had truly trusted. Someone Aira had cared for and thought cared for her too? But it was obviously a lie, a lie to get her guard down. To get her to believe him and put herself in that position. A lie, ultimately, to crush her world.

"Aira!" Hermione's voice rang through the trophy hall. Aira said nothing, just continued to sob, hiccup, and cry. She could hear Hermione's footsteps echo as they got closer to Aira's slightly hidden corner. "Aira, where are—oh, Aira!"

Hermione sank down next to her girlfriend, attempting to wrap her arms around Aira's shoulders, but Aira quickly shrugged her off. She refused to say a word of what had happened. It was her fault that he had gotten so close so quickly, her fault that it had happened, period. The flirting and teasing… it had been harmless, or so she thought. Aira and Lavender had done it all of the time. But Aira had always been the one to go too far, the one to get too close to the boundary between "play" and "interested."

Hermione, or anyone else for that matter, had to know what happened.

"Tell me, what happened Aira?" Hermione said gently.

Aira shook her head.

"You don't have to be afraid. Tell me, what's wrong?"

"No, Hermione," Aira hiccupped. "D-don't—hic—concern—hic—yourself—with my problems…. I-I-I will deal—hic—with this—myse-e-elf."

"Airatica Dakota Smith, I am your girlfriend and you are crying! You can't expect me to stand by and just watch! I wan to help you, but that can not happen until you tell me what's wrong, so tell me what's wrong!"

"No, not now," Aira told Hermione, not intending to keep the promise. "Just… hic! Just let me …stay here… and cry."

O

A week following that Friday in the trophy hall, Aira had still not been seen outside of her bed in the seventh-year girls' dormitory in Ravenclaw Tower. Hermione was beginning to worry. Aira could barely stop crying enough to form a coherent sentence and once she finally did calm down, all Aira said was that she would take care of it herself.

Aira was not a genuinely independent, I'll-deal-on-my-own type of person. She turned to her friends when she had a problem and needed advice, and openly asked for help when she was having trouble with something difficult. Naturally, when Aira claimed to be able to deal on her own, Hermione's trouble radar went off, something usually reserved for Harry and Ron.

"Hermione," she heard Roger Davies call, a fellow seventh-year and mutual friend of Aira's.

Hermione stopped at the door of just outside the Ancient Runes classroom she was leaving and waited for the boy to catch up.

"You haven't heard from Aira have you?" he asked. They fell into step next to each other.

"No, not since Friday," she replied, once again focusing on her concern. "Why are you asking me anyway? You're her housemate."

"That's true," said Roger, "but I haven't heard from her since Monday and I was hoping that you might know where she has been."

Hermione shrugged. "The last time I saw Aira was Friday and she was in a crying fit. I tried to see what was wrong, but she wouldn't talk. I took her to the entrance to Ravenclaw Towerand waited twenty minutes before Luna Lovegood showed and took her inside." Hermione thought for a moment. "Have you heard from the girls in her room?"

"No," Roger shook his head. "I haven't. The way they're acting now, they probably don't care either."

"Why would—oh right, Cho and Marietta," realization dawned as Hermione remembered the way the pair reacted to Aira's bisexuality. "Those two have the Ravenclaw girls wrapped so tight around their fingers, I would not be surprised if they were the ones who triggered Aira's emotions the way they did." Even as she said it, Hermione could not understand why Aira would allow the girls' petty actions to affect her.

"So you didn't ever find out what happened?" Roger asked

"No, unfortunately, I didn't."

"Okay then, seeing that I have a free period, as you do too I believe, why don't we head up to the tower and get one of the younger girls to coax Aira out of her room. Then we can get to the bottom of things."

It sounded like a good plan, and Hermione agreed, but once they had gotten inside and their third-year-of-choice returned with the news that Aira was not present, Hermione forced her way upstairs to find that it was true: Aira was missing.

"Do you know where Aira is?" Hermione asked Jenna Spalling, a sixth-year. She shook her head no.

"She hasn't been here since Wednesday," the girl answered. "I don't know where though." Hermione ran back down to the common room.

"She really isn't up there," she said in disbelief. The third-year they had asked before was nowhere to be seen. "Jenna Spalling said that she's been gone since Wednesday." Hermione plopped down on the couch next to Roger. "What do we do now?"

The obvious thing wasto tell Professor Flitwick, but Hermione didn't want to falsely alarm the small teacher, especially if he knew where Aira had gone. Another idea was to ask some of the other Ravenclaw girls to see if any of them knew where the Australian brunette had gone, but with Cho and Marietta's control over so many of them, it would be next to impossible to receive a legitimate answer.

Hermione's mind was spinning through a third plan when Roger said, "Lets go see Flitwick. It's more than likely he would know what to do." Getting to her feet and dropping her half-conceived plan, Hermione said nothing, just led the way to Ravenclaw Tower's exit. The plan may not be ideal, but it was better than the far-fetched one in her head.

Hermione and Roger walked through the castle in the direction of the Ravenclaw Head of House's office. Both teens seemed to be locked within their own mind, gears rapidly spinning, searching for a reasonable explanation for Aira's sudden disappearance. Every female and every Ravenclaw they passed were asked if they knew the location of the Australian brunette, and each person denied. They were down the corridor from Flitwick's office when Ginny Weasley came rushing towards them revealing the desired information in five words:

"She's in the Hospital Wing."


	2. Chapter 2

Beautifully Broken—Chapter Two—Lost Soul

**Beautifully Broken—Chapter Two—Lost Soul **

At light speed, all three of them shot off to the west end of the castle and Madame Pomfrey's infirmary. The middle-aged woman chastised the trio for running, but eventually let them in. Laying red-eyed and frizzy-haired was Aira, dressed in a pair of deep purple sweat pants and a black wife beater.

"Aira, what happened?" Hermione edged towards Aira's bed. "What's wrong? You just left… Roger, Ginny and I were worried about you."

"I'm worried about me too." Aira said blankly. " I have no idea what's wrong. I just woke up here Monday morning… Madame Pomfrey said something about me screaming in my sleep…She said I was going through traumatic depression."

"So that's why you haven't been seen all week? You've been up here?" asked Ginny. Aira nodded.

"You'll be alright Aira," Roger said, wrapping her in a hug. Aira threw Roger's arm off of her before he made contact.

"Do not touch me." Aira gave him a poisonous look. "Ever." It was an odd action; Aira was quick to accept affection, especially hugs from her best friends. Her sudden rejection alarmed not only Hermione, but Ginny and Roger as well. They exchanged glances as the bell swithching the periods rang throughout the school.

"Hey Air, we'll be back," Ginny softly patted her friend's arm, unnecessarily anticipating Aira to snatch away. "Just us. No one else will have to know." Aira nodded and mumbled a low, okay. Hermione gave her a kiss on the forehead before following Ginny to the doorway. Roger waved and led the group from the infirmary, all three of  
them filled with more fear than when they had entered.

Aira still trembled inwardly from just the tought of Roger touching her. She didn't know what, it was, but she could not bare the touch of any male, and she could just tolerat that of a female. Madame Pomfrey had herself a job trying to convince Aira to let her check her out, and an even harder time getting Aira to take the potions. All sense of trust was destroyed that night, all friendships set loose forever. Aira wasn't even sure if she believed that Hermione was there for her. It was like the ingredients of Aira's world had been tossed into a bowl, the mixer set on high…. Will it mix into something better, or will all turn for the worse?

As promised, Hermione, Roger, and Ginny returned after dinner. Hermione brought a bowl of soup, hoping to sway Aira into something other than the nutrient potions Madame Pomfrey forced her to drink every morning and night. "It's not healthy," Hermione urged.

"Neither am I," Aira argued somberly.

"Yes, you are, you're just out of it, having a few bad days," Roger countered. "You'll feel better in no time. Don't forget, you're my date for the Valentine's dance in the Tower next month."

"Is not, she's mine!" Hermione laughed. "You're gay anyway, plus you told me that you were taking Dylan Powers from Hufflepuff."

"Oh, yeah. Well I guess you win then… this time."

"Wow Roger, way to be dramatic." Ginny rolled her eyes at the silly argument.

Aira knew that she shouldn't be in the Hospital Wing, that she should be with Hermione, Ginny, Roger, and possibly Lavender, Harry, and Ron, but she couldn't help herself from being sulky, frowning, hating herself. He had taken her soul, hidden it. Only now, Aira couldn't find it.


	3. Chapter 3

Beautifully Broken—Chapter Three—Not Ready But Not Willing

**Beautifully Broken—Chapter Three—Not Ready But Not Willing**

Every night, Hermione, Ginny, and Lavender returned to the infirmary, one of the three usually bringing with them a bowl of soup and a couple of dinner rolls in the hopes that Aira would eat. Often times Aira would only look at it, but once or twice she would eat half of a roll or a few spoonfuls of soup. It wasn't quite what Hermione wanted, but it was progress. Roger was still unwelcome within Aira's sight, but he would show up once or twice a week to see how his best friend was doing. Soon Aira didn't seem so tense around him anymore. Hermione thought for several days that he might have been the one to have harassed Aira but later shook the thought, remembering that Roger had been in the Great Hall when she left to go meet her. He could not have been the culprit.

Three weeks later, during the free period Hermione, Roger, and Ginny shared, in the hospital wing with Aira, an unconscious Theodore Nott, Draco Malfoy, and Blaise Zabini were brought in by a stressed-looking Professor Sprout.

"What happened here?" Madame Pomfrey asked moving them from the conjured stretchers to the beds across from Aira. Paying more attention to the new comers than their friend, none of the three noticed Aira's eyes widen or the fact that she was trying her hardest to hide herself.

"They got bit by one of the Snapping Lilies in Greenhouse 3. I don't expect it to be very dangerous—the poison isn't fatal until they become full-grown—but I don't want to take any chances. They should be out within the next day or so, although Mr. Malfoy here may try to extend his stay—he seems to love the attention and drama."

"Are we working with those today, Professor?" asked Roger interestedly.

"Only if I don't get more accidents like this you will." She nodded.

"Madame Pomfrey, I think I'm better now," Aira said quietly once the Herbology teacher left, "can I leave?" Aira sounded unsure of herself and Hermione was nearly positive that she was lying.

However, before Hermione could further investigate this sudden recovery, Madame Pomfrey had already moved in. "No way young lady, Until you can show me that you will be fine without nutrition potions that means you will have to start eating—_a full meal_." Aira threw herself back against her pillows and blew an irritated breath.

"Why do you suddenly want to leave anyway?" asked Hermione.

"I just do. I'm sick of this sterile white room and I'm sick of those disgusting potions and I'm sick of you lot always treating me like a baby who cant take care of herself! I do not need the infirmary anymore, and I never did."

"Maybe if you were treating yourself a little better, we wouldn't need to treat you this way," argued Hermione. "And excuse us for being genuinely concerned whereas you couldn't care less. _We_ aren't the ones starving ourselves." Aira muttered something incoherent but for the most part remained silent.

"The bell rings in about two minutes," Aira finally said quietly. "Don't be late." Recognizing their dismissal, Hermione, Roger, and Ginny bade their friend goodbye, leaving the hospital wing. But even as Hermione sat in her Advanced History of Magic class, she couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that there was more to Aira's desire to leave than just being bored with her surroundings.


End file.
